A Stag In Her Heart
by FanFictionFan9876
Summary: Lily is saved from a vicious werewolf attack but a mysterious stag. She keeps seeing it, when she wanders through the grounds, and becomes curious about the oddly familiar creature. Meant to be a one shot, but there's a possibility, I'll add chapters. T for safety, as always. Beginnings of Jily.
The Gryffindor portrait swung shut behind her. Lily's cheek were tinged, and she could almost hear the blood pumping through her veins.

'Despicable piece of...' Lily muttered as she stormed through the nearly empty corridor.

'Lily?' Alice called.

Lily stopped in her tracks, looked around and saw Alice's kindly face staring at her from one of the nice armchairs by the fire. Sighing, she shuffled over to her friend and collapsed into the chair next to her.

'Has he left?' Alice asked, without pretence.

'I don't know or care,' Lily said flatly.

Her Transfiguration essay was still lying on the table. She reached over and pulled it off the table and into her lap.

'At least this is finished,' Lily said tiredly. 'Have you finished your Potions essay for Slughorn yet?'

'Nope,' Alice said, popping the 'p.' 'I've just got the conclusion to finish. Are you going to bed?'

Lily looked up at the nearest clock. It was about to chime midnight.

'I might go for a walk,' she said.

'Now?' Alice asked. 'Won't you get caught.'

'Prefect's privilege,' Lily sighed. 'Besides, I want to practice my disillusionment charm.'

Alice grinned, nodded and returned to her essay. Lily stood up, tapped herself on the head with her wand. As if an egg had been broken on her head, she felt the charm trickle over her. In the blink of an eye, she had disappeared, even to her own eyes. She strode from the common room, through the portrait hole and ignored the Fat Lady's confused questions.

Slowly and quietly, she strode through the corridors. Now and again, she saw the odd ghost, and thankfully didn't run into Peeves or any of the teachers. She eventually reached the front doors, and tapped the lock with her wand.

'Alohomora,' she thought. The door clicked and opened slightly. She slipped out of the castle and headed towards the Forest.

She looked up as she walked, and saw thousands of sparkling stars above her and a large full moon. She sighed. The moon reminded her of Severus and his harebrained idea that Remus Lupin, her fellow Gryffindor prefect, was a werewolf.

Lily snorted derisively.

 _As if Remus was a werewolf,_ she thought to herself. _How preposterous._

She reached the treeline of the Forbidden Forest and removed her disillusionment charm. She wouldn't need it now.

'Lumos,' she said inside her head. Her wand tip ignited at once, and she continued to walk through the thickets of trees.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts, that the snapping of a twig behind her scared her. She whipped around, focussing her wand light on the spot she thought the sound had come from. There was nothing there.

Snap.

There was another sound behind her. She swung around. This time she did see something.

A snarling, hulking, furry creature was growling menacingly at her. She took a step back. Her wand light focused on the beast.

It was a werewolf. Tall, lithe, and ominous, it stood up on it's hind legs and snapped at her. Long strings of saliva hung from it's jaws and swayed with each violent head movement. She raised her wand.

'Relashio,' she shouted.

A bolt of energy shot out of the end of her wand and hit the werewolf right over the heart. It roared in pain, but it seemed to be even angrier. It lunged towards her.

'Wingardium Leviosa,' Lily shouted.

The werewolf hung in midair, snapping and swiping down at her. She held it in place, and slowly backed away. Her foot caught on a tree root and she fell backwards. Her concentration faltered and her quarry fell to the floor. It bounded towards her, snapping and snarling loudly.

It happened in the blink of an eye. She saw a brownish blur streak past her and towards the werewolf. With her wand light, she saw a hint of horns, as the blur tossed the werewolf into the air with ease.

It landed with a sickening thud. It scrambled up, and the blur had slowed to a stop. Lily could see the outline of a gigantic stag. It stood between her and the werewolf, as if daring the beast to try and attack her again.

A growl next to her, startled the life of out Lily. She turned her head and saw a colossal black haired dog was stalking past to her. It's gaze was also on the werewolf.

Disregarding her animal protectors, the werewolf lunged for Lily. The stag's antlers caught the wolf in the chest, and the dog lunged forwards. It's jaw clamped down on the werewolf's arm. The stag and dog seemed to be working together, pushing and pulling in the creature away from her.

In a storm of snapping, snarling, growling and barking, the three animals disappeared through the trees. Lily scrambled to her feet and ran towards the castle. As soon as she was through the treeline, she placed the disillusionment charm back on herself and hurried back into the castle.

Scared stiff, she barely cared that she was making a lot of noise as she ran all the way up to Gryffindor tower.

'Moriatis,' she gasped as soon as she lifted the disillusionment charm.

Grumpily, the Fat Lady swung forward and let her through the portrait hole. Mercifully, the common room was empty. She raced up to her dormitory and clambered into bed, fully clothed.

The next morning, she awoke to find Alice shaking her awake.

'I brought you toast,' she said handing her a stack in a napkin.

'Thanks,' Lily grumbled sleepily, sitting up and taking the stack.

'How was your walk?' Alice asked, a grin on her face.

A flash of memory jolted through Lily's mind.

'Fine,' she said, taking a bite of toast. 'Got me to sleep.'

Lily doubted very much that she would ever forget the encounter with the werewolf, or her animal guardians. Where had they come from?

Lily finished the toast, changed and accompanied Alice, Marlene and Mary down to the grounds, where they finished the last of their homework in the warm sun's rays. Lily's attention kept straying to the forest, which she found annoying. Her essay for Herbology wasn't as easy as she thought it would be.

By dinner time, Lily had resolved to find out all she could about her animal protectors. That night, she would go back to the Forest.

At when the clock in the common room struck eight that night, Lily extricated herself from the common room. This was easy. James Potter and Sirius Black were trying to be funny in the far corner of the room, which admittedly did keep everyone's attention away from her.

She strode through the corridors and eventually reached the Entrance Hall. Placing a disillusionment charm on herself, she opened the doors and slipped out into the grounds. She made a beeline for the forest, lighting her wand as she walked. She slowed down as she reached the trees. She removed the charm and waited near the spot where the werewolf attacked her.

 **XXXXXXX**

'Where's Evans?' James asked Marlene McKinnon. Marlene looked over her shoulder and a confused expression washed over her face.

'Dunno,' she said. 'When are you going give up on her James?'

He looked shocked.

'Me? Give up on Evans?' James asked sardonically, and Marlene laughed.

Sirius lent over and whispered something into James' ear. A ghost of something flitted over his face, before a grin spread over his lips.

James jumped to his feet and hurried away up to the boy's dormitory. Sirius grabbed Peter by the shoulder and they hurried out of the portrait hole.

Marlene narrowed her eyes slightly. They were acting weird again.

 _Oh well,_ she thought. _They're probably off to set up another prank. Hopefully it will be something like the prank they'd pulled on the Slytherin quidditch team._

James yanked open his trunk, grabbed his invisibility cloak and pulled it on. He snuck back down into the common room and made his way to the portrait hole. After a moment, it swung open and James snuck through. Peter walked away from the Fat Lady, who was irate at being woken up. As soon as they were round the corner and out of sight, Peter transformed into a rat and James picked him up. Sirius stepped out from behind a suit of armour and slipped under the cloak.

They hurried through the castle and out into the grounds. They headed straight for the Whomping Willow. James put down Peter, who raced off an pressed the knot in the base of the trunk. Sirius stepped out from under the cloak and followed Peter into the tunnel. James saw something out of the corner of his eye.

He looked over and saw a mane of red hair. He ignored his friends, who would be staying the Shrieking Shack. They'd agreed that the previous night was too close a call. James slipped out from under the cloak, stuffed it into the tunnel entrance and transformed into the stag.

Slowly he walked towards her. She saw him coming, and her face split in a wide grin.

'Hello,' she whispered as he approached. 'I never got to thank you for last night. You saved me.'

 _He truly is a beautiful creature,_ she thought to herself. The eyes were strangely familiar. A light hazel.

The stag nudged her arm with his nose. It was as if he was nudging her back to the castle. She reached up and stroked his muzzle. He was strangely docile. Her hand ran over the animal's fur. The stag's eyes closed slightly and he seemed to enjoy it. A twig snapped, and Lily jumped away from the animal.

She span around and her lit wand shone a beam over the prowling figure of Severus Snape.

'What are you doing here?' Lily spat coldly.

'I saw you leaving the castle,' he said softly. The stag moved out from behind Lily and between her and Snape. 'Your disillusionment charm still needs a little work. There was a slight shimmering.'

'What are you doing here?' Lily repeated, her voice even colder than before.

'I wanted to talk,' he said, and the stag stomped forward threateningly. Snape raised his wand and pointed it between the stag's eyes.

Lily strode forward, her wand pointing directly over Snape's heart.

'Leave me alone,' she growled. 'I don't want to talk to you. I was done with you as soon as I realised that you thought no more of me than anyone else of my parentage. Why do you even care? I just a mudblood.'

She turned away from him and started to walk away from him. As soon as Severus stepped forward, the stag bounded towards him. The stag's antlers connected with Snape's chest. They were blocking him from Lily rather than an attack, but Severus slashed his wand through the air in retaliation.

The stag bellowed in pain, as a deep gash appeared in the shoulder. It fell to the ground as Lily whipped around. Her wand twirled through the air.

'Eviaris,' she yelled.

A purple bolt of energy erupted from the tip of her wand and blasted into Snape's chest and it bowled him over. She hurried over to him, and stood over his prone figure, her wand pointing between his eyes.

'Leave,' she growled. 'Before I hex you.'

Snape scrambled to his feet and ran out of the forest. Lily turned back to the stag, which was writhing around on the forest floor, still in pain.

She rushed over to it's side, raised her wand and pointed it at the gash. She muttered under her breath and the wound seemed to knit back together. It was slow work, but she eventually managed to close it fully.

As soon as the wound was closed, the stag scrambled to it's feet and rushed away from her. Lily sighed heavily, stood up and placed a disillusionment charm on herself. She strode through the thinly layers trees and up to the castle. She slipped through the doors and up to the seventh floor and Gryffindor tower.

The next morning, Lily awoke to a sunny Sunday morning. All the windows were open, and a pleasant breeze was wafting through the dormitory room. She sat up, and saw that the rest of the room was empty.

Lily got out of bed, dressed and headed down to the common room. As she stepped off the bottom stair of the staircase, she gathered her hair into a ponytail. The common room was nearly deserted. Mary and Marlene were sitting at a table by an open window. Apart from a couple of younger students, they were the only ones in the room.

'Where is everyone?' Lily yawned.

'Outside,' Marlene replied. 'You slept late. I was about to wake you up.'

Lily looked over at the clock. It was nearly midday.

'Tired I suppose,' she said. 'Must've needed it. Where are those toerags?'

'Why?' Marlene asked, a suspicious look on her face.

'I've got a Defence Against The Dark Arts essay to do and I don't want to be interrupted,' Lily said simply.

'Outside,' Mary told her. 'Oh, you haven't seen have you?'

'Seen what?' Lily asked absently.

'They managed to cover the entire quidditch pitch with notes that say...' Mary paused lightly. 'Well, it's quite rude.'

Lily looked at her, before getting up and making her way to the window. She would have a distant view of the quidditch pitch. True enough, she could just about to make out the offensive slogan that had evidently been painted onto the outer edge of the stadium.

Fighting a laugh, she sat back down and started on her essay. About four in the afternoon, the portrait hole opened and four boys clambered through it. They were all laughing their heads off. Sirius jovially slapped James on the back.

'Ow,' James said loudly.

'Sorry Prongs,' Sirius said.

Lily looked up to see James wincing and massaging his shoulder. Her eyes narrowed a little.

'Don't worry Padfoot,' he replied, before spotting Lily. A ghost of something crossed his face as he caught her staring at him, holding his shoulder. 'Bludger from Baker in training. Still hurts like a... Oh, high Evans.'

He smiled broadly at her and she promptly turned away from him. All four boys made their way up to their dormitory. As soon as they were inside and the door was closed, James pulled his shirt over his head, and Peter gasped audibly.

'Snape did that to you?' Peter breathed.

'Yeah Wormtail. He didn't know it was me. I was in my stag form at the time. Do we have anymore of the potion, that heals the wounds we get if Remus accidentally scratches us?'

'Nope,' Sirius said from under Remus' bed. They had stashed a load of stuff under their beds. Remus' hid the potions.

'Well I'm not sure what spell Lily used, but it seems to have done the trick. The potion normally gets rid of the pain.'

The next few days were difficult. James had to sling his bag over the other shoulder and winced in pain every time he forgot. His right hand was giving him trouble too. He could hold his wand, but writing and using cutlery was difficult. Luckily, the quidditch season was nearly over. James still caught Lily watching him suspiciously from time to time, but he grinned and winked at her. This normally did the trick and she would look away.

Remus' final transformation for the year at Hogwarts, was rapidly approaching. James' shoulder had healed nicely and all four of them were keen to go on an adventure.

'Let's explore Hogsmede again,' Peter said.

'Nah,' Sirius said lazily. 'I'm bored with Hogsmede. How about the Forest? I heard of a rumour of Acromantula in the forest.'

'I don't want to go and find Acromantula,' Peter whined.

'I was thinking of spending it alone actually,' Remus said idly, as he poured over a book.

'What?' Sirius said, looking aghast. 'You want to be alone?'

'I'm already feeling the effects,' he said. It was true. He did look a little pale. 'I just want to spend it alone, and try to sleep through it.'

'We full well know that you won't be sleeping through it Moony,' Sirius said. 'Come on, it's the last one of the year.'

'Drop it Padfoot,' James said. He was looking over at Lily.

'I could say the same to you,' Sirius quipped, but James ignored him. As he looked away, Lily looked over at him.

That night, James left Sirius and Peter alone in the common room. Peter wanted to play exploding snap, and Sirius had been suspiciously obliging. James strode from the common room and through the castle. It was still light out, and way before curfew. He managed to get out into the grounds without running into Peeves.

James breathed heavily as he stood on the top step and shoved his hands into pockets. His thumbs stuck out of the pockets, hooking his hands into place. He strode through the grounds breathing in the summer air, while reminiscing about the year that had just flown by. James was walking along the Forest's outermost tree line when a figure came through the castle's oak double doors.

James briefly considered casting a disillusionment charm, but he wasn't breaking any rules... For once. He carried on walking but kept an eye on the figure. It was short, and running towards Hogsmede. Curious, James decided to follow.

He kept a respectable distance from the figure. He squinted at it, as it slowed down, and saw red hair. It was Lily. His curiosity grew, as she made her way into Hogsmede itself. He watched her for hours. The sun had gone down by the time Lily made her way over to the Shrieking Shack. James' heart began pounding.

The moon peaked out from behind a cloud, and within moments there was a familiar howl from the Shack. James inched closer to Lily. Before he could get close enough, there was a disturbing ripping and snapping sound. A lithe figure bounded from the Shack and into Hogsmede itself.

It stopped a few yards from Lily, who had frozen in fear. Without thinking, James bounded forward, transforming into the stag a split second before flying past Lily. The stag's hooves clattered onto the hard ground, and it took a second to steady itself. The werewolf reared onto it's hind legs and howled loudly.

The stag hulked down and lowered it's head, ready to charge. The werewolf landed on all fours and the stag charged. It bounded forward, racing towards it's quarry, in a blur. Lily gasped as the werewolf slashed through the air and caught the stag across the side of the face.

The stag fell to the floor, face-first. Lily pulled out her wand and pointed at the wolf.

'A-a-apercuto,' she stammered. A light blue bolt of energy slammed into the werewolf, which had bared down on the stag, ready to bite and maim.

The werewolf was blasted over the stag, which clambered to it's feet and prepared to charge again. As the werewolf struggled to it's feet, the stag's antlers connected sharply. The werewolf was bowled over and it lay crumpled on the floor.

Slowly, the stag approached it. In one swift movement, the werewolf sprang to life. A ferocious swipe floored the antlered animal. Lily raced forwards.

'Incarcerous,' she yelled, pointing her wand at the werewolf.

Ropes exploded from the tip of her wand and bound the wolf. It struggled against the tight bonds, but Lily could already see that they were starting to fray. As the werewolf broke free of the restraints a figure bowled past Lily, it's wand pointed directly at the werewolf's chest.

'Stupefy,' it roared.

A bolt of red energy raced into the werewolf's chest, but it didn't seem to have much effect.

Shocked, Lily saw that it was James. His wand was drawn, and he was firing hexes indiscriminately at the werewolf. None of them were too extreme. It seemed that James was intent on pushing the werewolf back. As the moon reappeared out from behind a dark cloud, Lily saw a gash across his cheek and she gasped.

'Repulso,' James roared.

The air seemed to ripple from the power of the spell. James' spell pushed the werewolf into the air and kept it airborne. James edged closer to the Shrieking Shack, pushing the werewolf with him. As soon as they reached the entrance to the Shack, James flicked his wand and the werewolf was flung into the hovel. Lily raced up behind him and twirled her wand at the shattered pieces of door. It jumped back together and back into place, as James pointed his own wand at it.

'Colloportus,' he said. The door made an odd squelching sound, and Lily kept her wand trained on it.

'Depriergio,' she said. The wood seemed to crystallise and hardened before returning to normal.

James and Lily were panting heavily.

'You..' Lily panted. 'You...'

'Are you okay?' James asked harshly. 'Are you okay?'

Lily nodded as he shook her by the shoulder. Her eyes locked on his, and she saw the familiar hazel eyes. The stag's.

'You're the stag,' she gasped. 'You're the stag!'

'Lily, calm down,' he started, but she was freaking out.

'You're the stag,' she repeated, her voice becoming shrill. 'You're that stag!'

'Lily,' he said firmly, holding onto her shoulders. 'It's okay.'

'Okay?' Lily shrieked. 'Okay? You're an animagus.'

'Shut up,' he growled. 'Or I'll put a silencing charm on you.'

He raised his wand. She wrenched herself free and raised her own.

James reacted first. His stunning spell hit her in the chest and he caught her before she hit the ground. He carried her through Hogsmede. As they passed through the gates into the grounds, they closed and locked behind them. James managed to extricate his wand from his pocket, and he lightly tapped the tip of wand on top of her head. She seemed to drip into nothingness. He could still feel her weight in his arms. As he reached the Fat Lady, he spoke the password.

He managed to get through the portrait hole. Sirius and Peter were the last in the common room. They looked up with confused expression at James' weird posture. He shuffled over to the couch and seemingly lay something down on it. He pulled his wand out again and tapped thin air. Within a second, Lily had appeared.

'What the hell did you do Prongs?' Sirius asked. 'This is too weird.'

'She's only stunned,' he said.

'Did she do that to you?' Peter asked, pointing a shaking finger at the gash on his cheek.

'No,' he said shortly. 'Moony escaped.'

'What?' Sirius asked, horrified. 'What happened?'

'Lily went for a walk into Hogsmede. She ran across Remus and he went to attack her. I transformed and got between them. He attacked me, and together we fought him off. I pushed him back into the Shack and I repaired the door and she placed a hardening charm on it. She started to freak out. She knows I'm an animagus. She started screaming her head off. I stunned her and carried her back.'

'Enervate,' Sirius said, as he pulled his wand out and pointed it at Lily.

Her eyes fluttered open and as the green concentrated on the hazel, she jerked fully awake. She scrambled back from James as much as she could.

'Keep quiet, or I'll stun you again and obliviate you,' he warned. 'We need to talk.'

'I never thought you'd break the law,' she hissed. 'Why did you even think that becoming an animagus would ever be okay?'

'Evans,' he said sternly. 'There's something you need to know.'

James looked at Peter and Sirius, who nodded, before looking back at her.

'We're all animagi,' he told her.

'What?' Lily screamed. James pointed his wand at her, and she fell silent out of curiosity.

'We became animagi because of Remus.'

'Remus?' Lily asked. 'What about him?'

'You, err, saw him...' James said delicately. 'Earlier.'

After a moment, her eyes widened.

'No,' she said. 'Not the werewolf?'

James nodded.

'See,' Sirius said. 'We worked it out in second year. We couldn't help but fail to notice that our friend was getting ill every month at the full moon. We confronted him when we had proof. We followed him when he was with Madam Pomfrey. They went under the Whomping Willow and we managed to follow him. We didn't exactly see him in his werewolf form, but there was enough evidence. The next time we could talk to him in private, we told him we knew.

For three years, we tried as hard as we could to figure out how we could make his transformations better for him. We finally managed to get it done just before halloween last year...'

Within a blink of an eye, Peter and Sirius had changed into their animal forms. Within another blink, they'd changed back.

Lily looked like she was suffering from information overload. She pushed past James, and strode up the staircase.

Luckily for the Marauders, the end of term was only a couple of days away. James kept an eye on her, and was ready to silence her and obliviate her memory at any moment. Lily, though, seemed to be content with keeping quiet about their revelations to her. There was no mention of it at the end-of-term feast or the train journey home.

It was about three weeks into the summer holidays when James was awoken by a tapping at his window. A small owl was waiting to come in. He clambered out of his bed and opened the window. The owl immediately dived inside, dropped a small note onto his bed and flew back out the window. James opened it, exceedingly curious.

 _James,_ it read. _I have had time to think it over. You and your friend's decision to become animagi was dangerous, illegal, ill-considered, horrifically misguided and... Utterly wonderful. I know that it's not easy to become an animagus. It is a wonderful gesture of friendship. But, maybe it would be wise to invest in a stronger door for the Shrieking Shack? Also, thank you for saving me, not once but, twice from Remus. I still can't figure out how he escaped. I'm sorry for Snape cutting your shoulder. I should have hexed him as soon as he appeared. Can you thank Black for me? He helped you drag Remus away from me in the forest. Thank you. Lily. P.S. I prefer you in your stag form. You're a lot nicer. And quieter._

James grinned down at the letter. His final year at Hogwarts was going to be very interesting.


End file.
